WSTP Electra

WSTP Electra provides automatic access to the Electra system from customers’ back-end systems (bookkeeping and invoicing systems). The name is the acronym for ‘Webservice Straight-Through-Processing‘ operating mode. The WSTP module communicates with connected systems with SOAP messages, using protocols compliant with international standards. With WSTP Electra, bank customers can send STP messages to Electra and, through it, to their banks in the form of standard web service calls from different platforms and from various application development frameworks.

The Electra Client Program is an electronic communication channel for bank customers, who provides access to most bank services. The basic solution comprises two main components: the central computer operated at the bank and running the server software (Electra server), and the terminal programs (Electra Client Program) installed on the customers’ computers. The Electra Client Program and the Electra server operate in a client-server setup. Connected both to the bank’s internal clearing systems and to Electra client programs, the Electra server provides all central functions. The server has a continuous, mostly real-time connection with the clearing systems, and functions as a server from the perspective of the client programs. Bank customers must use the Client Program to connect to the server and to the bank’s clearing systems behind it. In the initial Electra Client Program architecture, the client program was the endpoint: it was the only component on the customer’s side which had an automatic program-to-program connection with the bank’s systems. With the WSTP module installed, this connection can be extended to include the company’s own systems. This gives banks a means to provide higher level services, which is a basic requirement when it comes to processing money market deals fast.

When this module is installed, bank customers can use their own company applications to initiate transactions, which are automatically transferred via Electra into the bank’s account management systems without any human intervention. The bank clearing systems then process these transactions during their respective scheduled operating periods. Thanks to this setup, banks can send all (status) information about processed transactions directly to the customers’ systems.

Since most SMEs do not run company-level processing systems, the Electra Client Program usually functions as the endpoint of their bank connection. However, when operating in a large corporate environment, it is essential that individual financial processing systems could connect to the bank’s account management systems directly and without human intervention, through integrating specific system elements.